Japan to trial inter-vehicle messaging system

Japanese carmaker Nissan has announced plans to test an “intelligent transportation system” that sends wireless messages to passing cars. The company said on Friday that it plans to include 10,000 drivers in a 30-month experiment.

Messages will be beamed optically from roadside beacons to passing cars in the trial. Information received by an onboard computer will then be used to alert a driver to potential danger from an approaching vehicle or inform them of traffic congestion ahead, Nissan said in a statement.

The test will start on 1 October 2006 on public roads in Kanagawa, a prefecture just south of Tokyo, with the carmaker hoping to commercialise the system by 2010.

The project is seen as viable in Japan because more than 50% of cars are already equipped with navigational gadgets such as satellite Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, compared with fewer than 10% in the US and Europe.

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Vehicle alert

The experiment will test several functions including a “vehicle alert” which tells drivers that another vehicle is moving too fast at a blind intersection. In this situation a voice message warns the driver&colon; “Car approaching from left (or right)”.

When drivers are travelling above the speed limit a “speed alert” will be issued. In a school zone a warning sign appears on the navigation screen and a voice warning states&colon; “School ahead. Watch your speed.”

The system also includes “dynamic route finder” which informs drivers of the quickest route to their destination using data collected from other vehicles. Drivers will be able to synchronise their cellphone with a car’s navigation system in order to relay information about their journey to a central command system.